It’s that time of year again where we look back on all the amazing music the past twelve months have given us and gather together the ten highest rated albums on the site in 2017. This has been the closest year yet for albums, and with some Belwood favourites like Algiers and Wolf Alice missing out on the top ten, it’s also been a year that has offered its fair share of surprises. Continue reading
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Top Ten EPs of 2017
We’ve had top lists of singles and albums since the site started, but we’ve neglected an increasingly important part of the music industry: EPs. They are a chance for new artists to show the world what they are all about, and hence by looking at EPs we can see where music is headed and who might just be the next big thing. They also offer an opportunity for established artists to take a chance and explore something new without dedicating all their effort to a full album. Simply put, EPs are the lifeblood of the music industry, and here are the ones that impressed most in the past year: Continue reading
Top Ten Videos of 2017
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with music videos. Sometimes they feel like a relic of the MTV days that we cling to because everyone else is doing them. Other times however, you find such a well conceived and brilliantly executed video that reminds you how they sometimes still have the power to make a band or artist a household name. There’s been a fair few great videos in 2017, and here’s a run-down of some of the best: Continue reading
Top Ten Songs of 2017
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas! It’s that time of year again; as 2017 draws to a close we’ll be talking about Belwood’s highlights of the year gone by, starting with our favourite songs. It’s been no easy task to whittle it down to just ten tracks, there’s been a lot of outstanding music released this past year. With a healthy mix of acts both old and new, large and small, it’s our strongest list yet. Hopefully you can find a few hidden gems here that you missed first time around, or just jam along all over again! Continue reading
How Not to F*** Up a Festival
To say that this year’s festival season has been a bit of a shambles would be a massive understatement. That’s like saying the Sahara Desert is “a bit warm”. Between Y Not being totally unprepared for rain (i.e. a normal British summer) to Hope and Glory being several thousand over capacity, it’s been one hell of a year for shamefully poor organisation… and the less said about the horror show that is Fyre Festival the better. All of them cut corners when it came to security and facilities, all of them showed utter disregard for their patron’s safety, enjoyment and well-being. Anyone who has been to a half decent festival will know that all these problems are easily avoided. Continue reading
Unnecessary Albums: The rise of deluxe editions
You all know the type; once an album has been released the record label will keep flogging it for every penny it’s worth. In today’s modern music industry, during what is probably the most unpredictable time since it’s inception, the business side of things plays a bigger role than ever before. With streaming becoming the dominant form of music consumption, but offering little in terms of monetary rewards, labels have to go to greater lengths to try and push sales for physical copies of albums. One of the biggest, and most irritating ways that they do this is by releasing “deluxe editions”, packed to the brim with content that, if we’re honest, no one asked for. Continue reading
Stop the solo concert shame
I will admit, I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to live music. I didn’t attend my first proper gig until I was in university and it wasn’t until many many more down the line that I discovered that there is a stigma attached to going to concerts on your own. A great many more concerts later, both solo and with friends, and I still must profess that I don’t understand what the problem is. I think it’s high time people grow up and embrace the idea of going solo to live music events. Continue reading
What will music be like in the future?
In today’s fast moving world the path that the future will take can be very difficult to predict. Fads come and go faster than ever before and music is not immune to the fickle nature of modern life. Someone can be on top of the world one day and then be all but forgotten the next. (Remember Gotye? Anyone heard from him lately?) Likewise acts can be plucked up from obscurity and thrust into the limelight seemingly out of the blue… I bet Rick Astley’s bank account is looking nice and full after all those millions of rick rolls! But even in the disorderly world of pop culture there are patterns to be found. Perhaps the best way to make predictions is to look at how the industry itself is set to change and think about what effect it will have on music. Continue reading
Cut and Paste Crisis: The problem with sampling
It’s no secret that when you look at the credits and personnel on certain albums, with hip hop, manufactured pop and modern R&B being the most notable culprits, you will see a long list of writers and producers. Albums from such artists as Beyoncé and Kanye West which have made big waves in the industry this past year seem to practically have an entire office block worth of people credited with making the music that made them famous. I imagine few of these people have made conscious contributions, many of them simply have had their work sampled. Continue reading
Stagnant Streams: How streaming killed the charts
Let’s be honest with ourselves, for as long as the charts have existed they have had to be taken with a pinch of salt. “Chart topping” music and good music rarely coincide, and any institution that gives Mr Blobby a number 1 single can’t be said to represent the best music in the country. Even so chart placings remain a source of pride for up and coming artists who rightly celebrate them as a milestone. However with the new rules in place to allow streaming figures to contribute to chart positions it could end up being the final nail in the coffin for this longstanding music institution. Continue reading
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